Procedure not followed: McDonald's

The serious assault of a McDonald's customer in Queenstown by
a duty manager was an exception to the way staff were trained
to handle "larrikin" behaviour, a McDonald's spokesman says.

When the restaurant's former duty manager, Rishi Kumar (34),
"football-kicked" a customer in the head while he was on the
ground on August 30, he did everything wrong in terms of
McDonald's training procedures.

Speaking from Auckland this week, McDonald's New Zealand
spokesman Simon Kenny said the incident had been investigated
by the franchise and it found Kumar had not followed the
trained steps when dealing with an aggressive or intoxicated
customer.

In such an event, a manager is supposed to ask the customer
to leave and if they fail to do so, to call the police or
security.

Instead of this, Kumar took the matter of the intoxicated
customer into his own hands.

During the 3am incident, he grabbed the customer, swung him
around and punched him to the ground before standing on his
torso. He then "football-kicked" the man in the head with his
left foot.

"This doesn't follow any of the process and is an exception
to the norm of how our staff deal with aggressive customers,"
Mr Kenny said.

"It is completely the opposite of what our training would
encourage ... We don't condone it at all."

The man had received five stitches and a scar on his
forehead, the Queenstown District Court was told on Tuesday.

Judge Kevin Phillips convicted Kumar of injuring with intent
to injure and sentenced him to seven months' home detention
and ordered him to pay reparation of $2200.

Despite court reports Kumar had been subject to an assault
earlier this year, Mr Kenny was unaware of this. Managers had
a police speed dial number for emergency incidents and Kumar
had not made any attempt to use it, he said.

Queenstown police have been called to the restaurant
regularly over the past 12 months.

Sergeant Derek Ealson said police had been working with
McDonald's management to find a resolution to security issues
at the restaurant this year.

Mr Kenny said the restaurant had since bulked up its security
and employed a security guard for Thursday nights, additional
to existing Friday and Saturday night coverage.

The restaurant also has 12 CCTV cameras and there are several
in the O'Connells Mall food court.